the wine ranking that hasn’t changed in 170 years 👵🏼

That year, Emperor Napoleon III hosted the second-ever World’s Fairs on the Champs-Élysées, determined not to be outdone by the British World’s Fair of 1851.

34 countries participated in the Exposition Universelle de Paris, which welcomed over 5 million visitors and debuted marvels like the first lawn mower, first non-industrial sewing machine, and one of the first oil-powered vehicles.

I know you didn’t come here for French imperial history, but here’s why it matters:
That World’s Fair 170 years ago left a lasting impact on the wine world.

So grab a glass of Bordeaux, and let’s get our history nerd on.

If you’ve ever taken a wine certification (or watched Somm), you know that studying wine is really studying agriculture and maps. Most of my exam prep involved memorizing the names of rivers, mountains, and villages.

So before we dive deeper into Bordeaux, here’s a quick map review:

Bordeaux is divided into three main sections by two rivers that split from the Gironde estuary: the Dordogne (north) and the Garonne (south).

If you’ve ever heard people talk about Right Bank vs. Left Bank, this is what they’re talking about.

Back to the history.

To showcase France’s best wines at the World’s Fair, Napoleon III asked the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce to put together an exhibit. They, in turn, tasked an organization of wine merchants with creating a full, ranked list of the region’s top wines.

Two weeks later, they returned with the now-famous 1855 Bordeaux Classification:

As expected, the list sparked a lot of debate.

Originally, the merchants even ranked the châteaux within each classification.

But after receiving criticism, they backtracked, claiming the list wasn’t meant to be in any particular order and rearranged the names alphabetically within each cru.

Here’s what’s crazy.

In 170 years, the classification has only changed twice:

* His Wikipedia page lists him as “a member of the Rothschild banking family who became a Grand Prix motor racing driver, a screenwriter and playwright, a theatrical producer, a film producer, a poet, and a wine grower.” Fascinating.

Also crazy:

Unlike other French wine regions, the 1855 classification was awarded to the producer, not the vineyard site. That means even if the location, ownership, or winemakers changed, the ranking stayed the same.

Meanwhile, other regions like Saint-Émilion (just across the river on Bordeaux’s Right Bank) classify based on location and even allow regular reclassification.

The châteaus of the 1855 Bordeaux Classification have changed ownership, their vineyard sites have expanded, shrunk, or been divided, and many say the quality of wines have also changed.

And yet…the classification persists.
To much criticism, of course. 

Many have attempted to change the classification, and some have published alternative rankings.

Still, legally, the 1855 Classification remains as is, and continues to be extremely lucrative for those estates.

(I should note that sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac were also ranked in this 1855 classification.)

To be clear, I’m not saying these châteaux now produce overpriced, bad wine.

I’m just saying… if you ever open a bottle of First Growth Bordeaux, please invite me over.

Let me shift to something a little more personal.

When I was a kid, I sucked at art class.
I remember making a clay horse that looked like a sad, lumpy blob with eyes.

My mom, on the other hand, can draw beautifully.
She’d help me with school projects, sketching lifelike animals while I struggled with stick figures.

So I decided: I’m not creative.

I avoided art classes for the rest of my life. I got through my high school art requirement by taking art history instead.

I said it out loud for years:
“Ugh, I could never do that. I’m just not creative.”

And yet…
I arranged music for my high school a cappella group (yes, I’m a nerd.).
I choreographed dance routines.
I wrote scripts and acted.
I even produced and hosted a podcast.

Still, the internal narrative held: I’m not creative.

It wasn’t until almost 30, when a friend casually said, “You’re so creative,” that my brain short-circuited.

Wait…was I?!

I thought back through the years and realized that maybe, I had been creative all along.
Just maybe not the way I thought “creative” meant when I was in elementary school.

(For the record, I still can’t draw to save my life.)

I think a lot of us carry around old stories like that, whether created by you or someone else:

“I’m not good with money.”
“I’m a bad writer.”
“I don’t have a good voice.”
“I’m not interesting enough.”

What would happen if we rewrote those stories? If we challenged those outdated, or outright incorrect, beliefs?

I don’t have a clear solution for this.

Maybe it starts with being a little kinder to ourselves, or really listening the next time someone compliments you without shrugging it off.

Because unlike the Bordeaux classification, our self-beliefs don’t need to stay stuck.
We can re-rank ourselves anytime.

So this week, cheers to challenging outdated beliefs and recognizing your own growth!

P.S. Sharing is caring: forward this to a fellow wine lover. It helps more than you think! ❤️